Beauty Brand Lime Crime Hit With FDA Warning Over ‘Unsafe’ Lipstick

Indie makeup brand Lime Crime is in trouble with the FDA over one of its lipsticks. There are reportedly unsafe ingredients listed in the Red Velvet shade of the brand’s Liquid Matte Lipstick.

Lime Crime is typically known for its offbeat and unconventional lipstick shades. The Velvetines are one of the most popular shades out of their collection. These liquid-to-matte lipsticks are both smudge-proof and touch-proof. Now, these lipsticks are being questioned by the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA posted a letter on its website to the owner of Lime Crime, Doe Deere, on Tuesday, August 11. The letter was first issued to Lime Crime at the end of July, but began circulating on social media this past week. The FDA is questioning the two coloring agents used in Lime Crime’s Velvetine Lipsticks: Ferric ferrocyanid and ultramarines. You can read the letter in full here.

The FDA has approved the ingredients for “externally applied cosmetics,” but not for lipstick, since the ingredients can be absorbed by the mucous membranes. Lime Crime must either get rid of the ingredients if they are listed in the lipsticks, or fix the packaging if the ingredients aren’t in the product.

Lime Crime has responded to both the FDA’s claims and customers’ concerns on their Facebook page. According to the beauty brand, they say that the listed ingredients are just a packaging error. Lime Crime insists that the Red Velvet shade is safe to use, along with all of their lipsticks and beauty products.

“Thanks for asking. The Velvetines are absolutely safe to use. However, a misprint occurred on some of the labels. We are working with the FDA to correct this. Customer’s safety is always a top priority for us. We apologize for any concern or confusion the misprint may have caused. If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact customercare@limecrime.com.”

Lime Crime also claims that the ingredients questioned by the FDA are safe to use on the lips outside of the United States. The brand has also been deleting negative comments from its Facebook page.

The company also issued a statement to Fashionista, which was one of the first news outlets that broke the story.

“The Velvetines are absolutely safe to use. However, a misprint occurred on some of the labels. We are working with the FDA to correct this. Customer’s safety is always a top priority for us. We apologize for any concern or confusion the misprint may have caused.”

The makeup brand, which launched in 2008, was founded by former musician and fashion designer Kseniya Vorotova, now known as Doe Deere.

Back in February 2015, Lime Crime suffered a massive data breach, in which compromised its customers’ personal and credit card information. Customers believe that the company didn’t handle the breach too well.

With such a tainted reputation, it doesn’t look like Lime Crime will last too long in the cosmetics world.